The lifting of limit on SMSes and lack of accountability on social media and micro-blogging sites has added fuel to rumour mongering, triggering panic among people of the Northeast.
Although the government banned bulk SMS service for a fortnight on Friday in a bid to contain the spread of rumours, social media and micro-blogging sites continued to be abuzz with messages, many of which were offensive in nature.
The government is yet to rein in the social media though it has occasionally asked them to filter abusive content. On Friday, it issued a directive, but failed to control abusive exchanges.
There were abusive messages on Twitter and wall posts asking NE people to leave the city.
Incidentally, reporting abuse on Twitter is an elaborate procedure and there is no direct button to report abuse instantly. However, some responsible netizens tweeted positive things urging the panic-stricken people to stay back.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year had imposed a restriction on the number of SMSes a user could send in a month. The limit was later relaxed for certain categories. Recently, the restriction was completely waived following a court judgement.
Thousands of SMSes were exchanged on the first two days further triggering panic reactions.
Many netizens suggested that the government should have used the SMS facility to counter the rumours and create confidence among the people.
“Why cannot government send a broadcast SMS to everyone providing updates on the situation,” tweeted Rajesh (@bigrjs).
The Northeast community (Hyderabad Manipuri Society) in Hyderabad, which has a page on Facebook, created a helpline and continued to post messages urging people not to panic.